Friday, May 16, 2003
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May Festival's 2003 season is worthy of anniversary
By
Connie Schmitt
In the 19th century Cincinnati's German heritage was alive and singing. The singing societies that were spread throughout the city had developed a biennial singing festival, and they even built a Seangerhall at 14th and Elm Streets. Then in the 1875 Reuben Springer pledged to build a new hall to house the festival and in 1878 Music Hall was inaugurated with the 3rd annual Biennial Music festival which is now known as May Festival.
Throughout the years, Music Hall has grown and changed as groups came and went—everything from a horse riding school to the UC's wrestling team have occupied the building at one time or another. Throughout the years, Music Hall has remained the home of the May Festival and this year, on Music Hall's 125 anniversary, the Music Festival is honoring its elegant home with a series the most popular choral works as well as a few debuts.
The Cincinnati May Festival's 2003 season presents five concerts over two weekends beginning Friday, May 16 and running through Sunday, May 23. Tickets are available online at www.mayfestival.com or by calling (513) 381-3300. Single tickets range from $11 to $60.
On the opening night the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will feature three works from Guiseppi Verdi. Premiering in 1874, Verdi's Requiem Mass became popular immediately. This will be the ninth time the May Festival has presented this work. The evening will also include Stabat Mater and Te Deum- two of the last pieces Verdi wrote.
The Saturday evening performance will feature the ever-popular Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn. Based on the Old Testament, this powerful epic focuses on the ferocity and passion of one of the Bible's most influential prophets. This is one of the most popular works ever performed at the May Festival.
In one of the few times the May Festival has left Music Hall, the May Festival will present Benjamin Britten's Noah's Flood at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky on Sunday, May 18. Designed as a community-wide musical pageant, this event will feature music-makers at all ages and skill levels. Even the audience is expected to take part in this retelling of Noah and the ark. The May Festival Youth Chorus will also be performing Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary by Henry Purcell.
The second weekend opens with a concert rightfully dubbed "encores and premiers." To commemorate the 125th anniversary of Music Hall the night will open with Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, a work that was performed during the May Festival's inaugural season at the hall. The highlight of the show will be the world premier of Saint Stanislaus by Franz Liszt. When Liszt died in 1886, this work was still in progress but the various manuscripts were scattered. Through the years musical scholars have assembled a complete work and various sections of this oratorio on the patron saint of Poland will receive their world premier. The evening will also revisit some of May Festival's past premiers like Alvin Singleton's Praisemaker, an excerpt from Menotti's The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi, and the prelude to Gloriana by Benjamin Britten.
The final concert of the series focuses on works from Russia and includes May Festival premiers of Rachmaninoff's Three Russian Songs and two works by Dmitri Shostakovich—The Execution of Stepan Razin and Festive Overture. The program closes with the Prologue and Coronation scene from Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov.
For more information about the May Festival series of concerts, call (513) 381-3300. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.mayfestival.com. Subscriptions to the entire series are available at the May Festival Box Office at Memorial Hall.
Friday, May 16, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
Messa da Requiem, Stabat Mater and Te Deum by Giuseppi Verdi
Music Hall
Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn
Music Hall
Sunday, May 18, 2003 at 7:00 p.m.
Noah's Flood by Benjamin Britten
Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary by Henry Purcell
Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington
Friday, May 23, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
Encores and Premiers
Coriolan Overture by Ludwig Beethoven
Excerpt from the Death of the Bishop of Brindisi by Menotti
Prelude to Gloriana by Benjamin Britten
Praisemaker by Alvin Singleton
St. Stanislaus by Franz Liszt
Music Hall
Saturday, May 24, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
Russian Night
Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich
The Execution of Stepan Razin by Dmitri Shostakovich
Three Russian Songs by Sergei Rachmaninof
Prologue and coronation scene from Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
Connie Schmitt is a freelance writer and long-time Cincinnati resident.
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